Unspoken
by forgetyouinsiberia
Summary: Based on the EzriaGame: Aria finds out Ezra is 'A' and tries to kill herself. TWO SHOT.
1. Unspoken

**A/N: TRIGGER WARNING**. Mentions of cutting/suicidal ideation. Speaking of which, I did not go into detail in the writing on how to break a sharp, simply because I don't like the idea of telling someone how to do that, even though I do actually know how. Even so, should you choose to read this, I hope you enjoy it. After the drama does come a bit of fluff. This was something I started months ago, and I'm proud of how it turned out. Also, it was only ever intended to be a oneshot, and turned into a two-shot because I wanted to wrap things up a bit more.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Nada. Zilch. Except for maybe the baby, but even then. The only thing I get out of writing this is getting the idea out of my head.

_Unspoken_

There was an emptiness in the silence as Aria stared up at the ceiling, just listening to the beating of her own heart. Words swirled in her head like a stew in a pot, but try as she might, she couldn't drown them out. She knew for sure because she'd put ear plugs in hours ago, and the words still wouldn't stop.

Tears ran in slow streams down the sides of her face onto her bed. It was irritating really. They never fell in the same simplistic way, down from the corners of her eyes to blankets below her. No, instead there always had to be one rogue salty drop that insisted it drift at a different angle because of the way she exhaled a breath or just slightly tilted her head a degree to the left or right. One degree's difference, and the teardrop was drifting down over the top of her ear instead of just off her face. But she didn't deign to wipe it away. She was too pissed off.

Her phone was ringing. She didn't know that because she could hear it-her earplugs made it so that all she could hear was her own breathing, and that incessant dull ringing that one heard when everything else was quiet-or because she could see it. No, it was the continued staccato vibrations she felt next to her right foot, demanding to be picked up. She didn't bother.

It wasn't the first call she'd ignored today. It wasn't even among her priorities to think of grabbing the phone. As it was, Ella barely called more than once or twice a week because of the international charges, and when she did it was usually at a designated time on the house landline. Byron wouldn't be calling either, because he was gone to yet another conference in some other city in another state, and he never called during the day. He only ever called twice a day-once after curfew to make sure they were where they said they'd be and tell them not to murder each other, and then the following morning to ensure they were in fact still alive.

Her phone finally stopped buzzing, so she rose from the bed and leaned over it. Her stomach churned, and she gulped, trying to quell the feeling. After a moment, it passed and she moved off the bed completely, crossing her room to the door. As she reached it, she glanced back towards her bed, and her phone lit up from its place on her blankets once more. She turned and exited the room.

Aria walked down the hall to the bathroom and then turned and closed the door behind her. She leaned against it for a moment, staring up at the ceiling. She reached her hands up and wiped the tears from her face, exhaling a deep breath.

She turned to face the sink a few moments later, and reached up to pull the plugs from her ears. As the noisiness that created silence filled her ears, she breathed another heavy breath. She tossed the ear plugs into the trash and then reached up and opened the cabinet over the sink. She moved a few things around and then grabbed a razor and pulled it down, glancing at the metal confined in the plastic.

She removed the plastic cover from the top of it and then worked to break the plastic apart. It took her several minutes-and several slices to her fingers-but she managed to get the blade free.

Once she had, she tossed the plastic into the trash and then stared at the metal as she held it in her fingers. It was ridiculously small and thin, and flimsy enough to bend with very little pressure, but she knew if she used it right, it would get the job done.

She turned the blade in her fingers until she had it in her fingertips and then turned her hand over, pressing the blade into her skin until it bit down. Like a tiger sinking its fangs, the blade separated her skin. As she drug it across, there was a moment that came with the first rush of pain-the pain that would drive someone else to stop-that also brought a heavy sigh of relief. The rush of endorphins sated her, at least for the briefest moment.

As she finished dragging the blade through her skin, everything felt weightless. The internal rush brought relief. And if that was what she was seeking, it would've been enough. But she didn't want something temporary. She wanted something permanent.

She began to apply pressure again, replacing the blade back in its original spot. She was crying as waves of stabbing pain rushed around where the skin relucantly broke under her pressure. She continued until she couldnt stand to feel the pain any longer, and then lifted the blade. Her hands were shaking, but she replaced the blade in the same place and repeated the process, applying as much pressure as she could take. It hurt, and it took all she had in her not to scream, biting down on the insides of her lips as tears ran down her face. She could see the blood pooling more, and felt continuing in the midst of the pain. A comfort in it all. She removed the blade and set to move it back again when suddenly a hand much stronger than her own was pulling her left hand away from her right wrist. She looked up into the blue eyes she only knew too well and rage filled her.

She hadn't heard the footsteps ascending the stairs. Hadn't even heard the door open. But here he was, standing in front of her with a demanding expression and confused eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her to the punch.

"Aria, why would you do this?"

His voice was low, unwavering. There was a layer of rage so thick wrapped around his words, like a snake tightening itself around its prey. And such an appropriate comparison too because that's how he made her feel now.

"Let me go," she growled at him, tugging at her arm in his grasp. She was hyper aware of the dark red blood running down her arm in fat lines, running over his white-tipped fingers. It stained the end of his white button-down dress shirt's sleeve. That would never wash out.

Ezra ignored her though, and he reached up to grab a hand towel instead from the small linen closet across from her. Aria screamed at him to let her go again, but he just continued his movements, never letting go of her arm.

She dropped the razor into the trash-actually having to shake her fingers a bit because of the drying blood causing it to stick to her fingers-and turned to face him, curling her free hand into a tight fist. Ezra just ignored her movements as he wrapped the still partially folded towel and wrapped it around her wrist with his free hand before he moved the hand he had wrapped around her forearm up to her wrist and held the towel there, applying pressure.

Aria continued to yank futilely on his grip on her wrist, screaming at him as she punched him repeatedly in the chest. She yelled curse words at him, told him how much she hated him. She told him he was a worthless human being and that she wished she'd never met him. She said he was cruel, and evil, and not worth the breath she used to breathe for him. But still he ignored her as his only focus was on her arm.

Beyond furious, she suddenly stopped pounding her hand against his chest. She stared at him with anger built up within herself, and she clenched her fists once more. His blue eyes met her hazel ones, and that's when she broke.

If she could shatter into a million pieces, it was probably the way something blew up when a bomb went off-flying in a thousand different directions all at once. She emitted the loudest, most ear-shatteringly painful scream she could manage as she wrapped her tiny fingers around his throat. She screamed and squeezed as tightly as she could, shoving him backwards with all the weight she could manage.

She hated herself though, because it wasn't enough. Ezra barely stumbled half a step. He didn't even flinch at her grasp on his throat, and too easily pulled her other arm from around the front of his throat. As she continued to scream at him, he screamed back at her, telling her to calm down. Their tones increased until finally his over took her own, screaming at her to 'sit down and shut the **fuck **up'.

Aria hated Ezra. She hated him more than anything in the world. She hated him more than Mona hated her and all of her friends. She hated him more than Jenna hated Spencer. She **hated **him. But she stopped fighting.

Her will dropped away as she dropped to the ground, and somehow he ended up under her, holding her. She was crying again, and she wanted to kill him, but he still had his hand on her wrist, holding the towel to it. And she hated herself as much as she hated him.

It was quiet for a long time, and the only noise filling the room was the sound of her crying and sniffling. She wanted to get away from him, but she knew there was no feasible way to do it in that moment, so she stayed.

Some time later-probably ten or so minutes-when her energy had faded and her sobs turned to silent whimpers, he finally spoke. His voice was soft and low once again, though less angry.

"Why would you try to do this to yourself?" He asked.

Aria glanced at her wrist where he was holding it away from her. Some blood had seeped through the layers, but he'd stopped her in enough time that it seemed to have stopped.

"You'd never understand," she told him. Her voice was soft and raspy, ragged from all her screaming.

"I could try," he responded.

Aria shook her head, feeling sick in the pit of her stomach once more. "You could **never** grasp the understanding of why I would do this. I could never do what you've done."

"Aria-"

She shook her head, moving off his lap. She tried to stand, but his grip remained tight on her wrist, refusing to let her go. She tightened her jaw as she resigned to not being able to get away from him, and she moved to the toilet.

Ezra stood and reached into the medicine cabinet, pulling out the first aid kit. He settled it on the counter and then opened it before moving his hand back down her forearm. With his free hand, he removed the towel from her wrist and inspected the damage.

The wound was deep enough to warrant stitches, but it was doubtful Aria would be willing to go to the hospital. Fortunately, she hadn't cut herself deep enough to reach any of her veins, and the bleeding seemed to have stopped.

He turned on the faucet and lifted the towel to under the stream of water and let a clean part of it get we before he brought it back to her arm and began to wipe away the blood.

"You might as well talk," he told her. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I'll just leave when you're done," she told him. Ezra looked up at her, his eyes daring her to fight him.

"Try and stop me," was all she said in response.

They were both quiet again, but she watched as he wiped away the blood on her arm. He was gentle, which she didn't understand at all. Even the grip he held on her arm wasn't rough. He held just tight enough to keep her in place without using excessive force.

"You think you know why I've done the things I've done," he commented as he settled the towel up on the counter and then reached into the first aid kit for antibiotic ointment. "But you haven't got the slightest clue."

"I don't **need** to have a clue to think that it's wrong that you've been **stalking** and **tormenting **me and my friends for months!" Aria growled at him. "It's **cruel**, Ezra!"

He said nothing as he spread the ointment over the wound and then recapped it. Afterwards, he grabbed two packets of gauze and lifted them to his mouth, using his teeth as a way to hold the end of them as he tore the packets open. After he had them open, he threw the garbage away and then placed both pads over Aria's wrist.

"Hold those," he told her. Aria stared him down for a few moments, but eventually she just sighed and laid her palm over her wrist while he reached back into the first aid kit.

"You think you know everything," He told her as he pulled bandage wrap from a fresh container. "But you don't have a clue. You're protecting Alison; maybe I'm protecting someone too."

Aria rolled her eyes. "Yeah right. Like who?"

The question was rhetorical. She didn't actually expect an answer.

"Tell me why you did this, and I'll tell you who I'm protecting," he countered. Their gaze locked for a pregnant moment, and neither of them moved.

Aria opened her mouth. "You first."

When Ezra looked up at her again, she continued.

"You give me one _morsel _of a detail, and if I think it's worth an answer, then I'll tell you the truth." She told him.

He nodded, looking back down at her wrist. "Move your fingers," he said as he placed the edge of the wrap against her arm. Once he had it down, she held down the bandaging once more as he began to wrap it around her wrist. "My brother."

"Who-"

"Answer my question first," Ezra told her as he kept his focus on bandaging her wrist. It wasn't an offer-he was insistent.

Aria inhaled and exhaled a deep breath. She wasn't even entirely sure he deserved to know. But she wanted answers. She could always lie about it later. Or run. Plenty of people would help her do that.

"I'm pregnant," she spoke quietly.

Ezra stopped all movement for several seconds, and his eyes seemed to be on her stomach. "You and Jake-"

"Never happened," Aria said before he could speak.

"And the last time we-"

She cut him off again. "Was three months ago. Now tell me the truth. Wes-"

"Is not my only sibling," Ezra told her. "He was three when my parents split up. He barely knew what was going on." He finished bandaging her arm and sealed the wrap with two clips before standing up to clean the mess he'd made. Aria wasn't running anywhere now.

"So then who?" Aria asked from her place on the toilet.

"Board Shorts," Ezra told her as he placed the first aid kit back in the medicine cabinet. "My parents...Wes wasn't planned. There were already two of us, and my parents didn't want to risk ending up with multiples again."

"Multiples..." Aria's brow furrowed. "You're a twin?"

"Fraternal," Ezra said with a curt nod. "And we grew up separately. When my parents split, he went with my father, and then bounced around boarding schools while Wes and I attended Dillards and lived at home."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Aria questioned.

"He grew up in England," Ezra told her. He turned the faucet on again and grabbed a fresh towel before wetting it and wiping down the counter. "Went to medical school."

Aria's eyes widened. "Your brother-...Wren Kingston is your brother?" She rose from the toilet.

Ezra glanced at her from the corner of his eyes and then back down at the counter as he scrubbed away a dot of blood.

"He was angry when he came back to the states," Ezra explained. "Blamed my mom for letting him go with my dad. He hated us."

"But what does any of that have to do with us or Ali?" Aria questioned.

Ezra sighed. He stopped wiping the counter and looked up at her. "He tried to kill her, Aria. When she thought she was pregnant, he freaked out and said she was going to ruin everything. He wanted her gone, along with every bit of evidence that he'd been in her life."

"What does any of that have to do with you?" She asked. "Why did he make you seek me out?"

"He didn't-..." Ezra paused, shaking his head. "I didn't _seek you out_. At least not the way you think I did. I'd seen you once or twice when Alison first went missing; he wanted to know who she hung around with, and I was already in Rosewood. But it wasn't until the weekend we met, when he'd heard about people claiming they'd seen her, that he came back here. I wanted nothing to do with any of it, but he said I owed him."

"So you hit on me in the bar?" Aria asked.

"He told me to sniff around; see if I could find anything out." Ezra explained. "I never expected to end up in the bathroom with you. You and I were never even supposed to be a part of the equation." He exhaled heavily.

"As it was, I didn't find anything, and the police said they found the body. Wren thought he was in the clear, and he let it go."

"Then what?"

Ezra walked out of the room, and she followed after him as he walked down the hall to her bedroom. He walked inside and looked around the room while she stood in the doorway, holding her injured wrist to her chest.

"Ezra."

He turned back to face her. "Then Mona went to Radley, and CeCee Drake came back, and Wren remembered her from that summer. He said that there was no way CeCee would come back to Rosewood without a reason, and when she put down roots..." He shook his head, staring down at the floor.

"What!?" Aria stomped her foot against the ground. Everything he was saying made sense. The pieces fit...

Granted, there was a part of her deep down that wanted-**needed**-the pieces to fit, for her own sanity. She wanted him to be able to explain it all away in a way that could mean they could still be together in the end.

"He was back here then," Ezra told her. "He started sniffing around, and he said that he was **sure** Alison was still alive; said he'd seen her. So he told me to start looking in to things again."

"And you just did it?" She inquired.

Ezra rolled his eyes, shaking his head. His gaze fell on Winesburg, Ohio, and he walked over to her window. He picked up the book and stared at it for several moments before putting it down and looking back up at her.

"I told him we'd just gotten back to a place where things were starting to feel okay. I mean yeah, things were a little weird with Wes bringing up Maggie, but things were _alright_." He paused for a moment, looking back at the book again. "He was quiet for a bit after that, and we were doing alright.

"The next thing I knew, I got a message to meet up in Philadelphia to talk. When I got there, he had all of this information about you and your friends, and he told me that if I didn't start looking in to things, he'd kill you. I told him he was an idiot, and he said that if I didn't believe him, that I should go find your train, because he'd already set up a surprise for me."

Aria gulped. "He's the one who-"

"He paid Wilden to put you in that box. I'm not sure whether Wilden actually knew that, though."

"So what next?" She asked.

Ezra looked back up at her. He walked over to her and stood in front of her, but didn't move to touch her. "I got to the train, and Melissa told me everything."

"Wait, how do you know Melissa?" Aria asked.

Ezra chuckled, shaking his head at her. "Melissa was a part of it all along. I met her at the end of that summer at Snookers. She sought me out because Wren had mentioned me. She was actually the reason Jackie broke up with me. Jackie thought we were too close."

Ezra paused again, reaching a hand out and curling it under her chin to make her look up at him. "I was never anything more than friends with Melissa. But I knew that she liked him, and she had to know she wasn't safe."

"So you told her what he..._thought_ he did?" Aria asked.

Ezra nodded. "When Wren found out you were coming back to the states, he reconnected with Melissa. Melissa knew all along that Spencer was in danger, and that's why she took the barn loft. She didn't want Spencer somewhere she wasn't protected.

"Anyway, that wasn't my point. I started hunting for information about Alison after the party. The whole thing with Maggie was just so I could keep you safe. I wanted you distant enough that you wouldn't come around asking questions. After that, Melissa got me in touch with CeCee, and she started helping me build a timeline. We were putting everything together so that we could bring Alison home and she could go to the cops with the truth.

"Everything we were doing-everything we've **been **doing-...it's all been to protect you and your friends, and to bring Alison home. Everything I've done to get information from you girls has all been so that we can fix this." He explained.

"Does Alison know?" Aria asked.

Ezra shrugged, shaking his head. "CeCee told her a while ago, but I don't think Alison trusts me. We met that weekend in Ravenswood. After you girls found the lair."

Aria nodded slowly. "She wanted us to figure it out so she could be safe to come home."

Ezra shook his head at her. "You girls _can't _know about Wren. He'll kill you, and he'll make sure you're dead." Ezra paused, exhaling a worried breath as he scrubbed his hand down his face. For the first time, Aria could see the weariness in his eyes. All of this had taken such a tole on him.

"So what now?" Aria asked.

"I think you should go to Vienna," he told her. "By your mom. I know it's only for a few months, but I think you'd be better off there. You...and the baby...would be safe. Hopefully by then, CeCee and I can convince Alison that what we've got is enough to bring her back home."

"What about Wren?" Aria asked. "He'll think you've told me."

Ezra shook his head at her. "No. When I leave here, you'll have hit me in the face. He already knows you found out about me being 'A', so I'll tell him I tried to make you believe we could still be together, and you hit me. And when I leave, you'll leave."

"Where?" Aria asked. "And Spencer. Hanna, Em-"

"Melissa will take care of Spencer," Ezra told her. "And Hanna's got her mom back now, and Wilden's out of the picture. I'll do what I can to protect Emily, but honestly, I'm mostly worried about you," he told her. He reached into his left side pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened it and pulled out several bills.

"I want you to go stay in a hotel for a few days, preferably in Philadelphia. You'll be harder to find. Ditch your phone. Leave your dad a note and tell him...actually I don't care what you tell him. Just don't tell him where you're going." Ezra paused, taking a deep breath. "Get a burner phone; something cheap that's less likely to have a GPS. I know you have your schedule with your mom, but break it. Call her in a frenzy and tell her things are bad here. Do whatever you have to do to convince her to let you come there.

"Once she says yes-and even if she doesn't-call CeCee. She'll get you a plane ticket with a different name. You might end up with a few stop-overs, but that's fine. At least then if Wren **does **figure out the truth, he won't know if you're actually in Vienna."

Aria shook her head. "Ezra I can't leave you guys."

"You can, and you **will**," he insisted as he pressed the money into her hand. "And I'll make it safe for you to come home. I'll make it safe for all of us again. I promise."


	2. Resolution

_Resolution_

Aria Montgomery never forgot the day she returned to Rosewood. It was July third, two thousand and twelve. She'd graduated from Rosewood Day High School by correspondence over a month earlier, but had been unable to return home given that she was in her eighth month of her pregnancy, and there was no way any air line would allow her to fly.

She waited out the days before her birth with less patience than a goldfish vying for food from its owner. She was grumpier than Ella probably deserved, and she moped around as though a few more weeks in Vienna was pure torture for her. It would be months-and thousands of miles away-before Aria would admit that those final weeks meant more to her than almost anything in the world. Her time in Vienna taught her a lot about her life, and even more about food. She certainly never thought she'd return to Rosewood with the ability to cook a three course meal for her family, but Zack's late night snacks for her cravings turned into midnight classes with Zack teaching her to make elaborate recipes.

It was during one of those late-night cooking sessions that she inevitably went into labor. At two twenty-four in the morning on June sixteenth, her water broke and two hours later in a hospital-whose name she couldn't remember even though it was on her daughter's birth certificate-Vienna Skye Fitzgerald-Montgomery was born.

Vienna's entire name was an on-going argument for the entire six months she spent knowing about her pregnancy. She could't even settle on a first name until three days before she gave birth because she didn't like anything she came across. Skye was the simplest part of all the choosing. Ezra always told her-on the very rare occasion they spoke-that when he missed her, he looked towards the sky and when she missed him, she should do the same. He said they could always find each other there. After Wren was in jail and she could skype with Ezra regularly, he told her he wanted Skye for the middle name. He was also the first to suggest Vienna. He said that there was nothing more poetic than naming her after the city that gave her a chance to survive long enough to make it into this world.

The discussion of which last name should go first on Vienna's birth certificate was a completely different matter entirely. Ella said she should just go with Montgomery or Fitzgerald-whatever she and Ezra agreed on. Ella said to keep it short and simple.

Of course, because Ella wanted things short and simple, Dianne countered in that Vienna-which she surprisingly conceded was a perfectly lovely and acceptable name-should take every name and be formally known as Vienna Springer-Montgomery-Fitzgerald. Then there was a brief moment when It was Vienna Springer-Fitzgerald-Montgomery before Ezra tossed out Springer entirely with the insistence that the world didn't need to know Vienna was from a wealthy background. In the past, Dianne would have been quick to argue the point further, but given recent events, she had backed off the subject and left Aria and Ezra to figuring it out themselves once more.

Initially, Aria had no intention of giving Vienna the Montgomery name. She figured she and Ezra would likely move in together-if not marry as well-soon after they returned to the states, and she only figured that dropping Montgomery all together would keep them from having to deal with changing her name later on. Even so, Ezra insisted Vienna keep the Montgomery name and then further insisted Fitzgerald go first on her birth certificate, as it came first in the alphabet. So Vienna still had the longest name Aria ever knew anyone to have. She felt bad for her daughter before she was even a day old.

The doctors required her to wait at least two weeks before she could fly, and if Aria had had more energy, she probably would've been even angrier about the never-ending wait to get back to the United States. Fortunately, Vienna was a somewhat cranky baby until they returned to the states-Ella insisted it was her picking up on Aria's attitude-so they both stayed relatively exhausted until they were finally granted permission to fly.

She left from Vienna, Austria to London, England at six AM on July third, and then had a two hour stop-over, during which she munched on fast food and fed Vienna. Finally just before ten AM, London time, she and Vienna boarded a flight with Ella and Zack to Rosewood. The flight was nearly eight hours, but due to the time difference, boarding and deplaning, when she arrived in Rosewood it was just past 1 PM.

When Aria walked into Rosewood Day High School that summer afternoon, she was already wrought with exhaustion. She'd only gotten a few hours of sleep on the plane, and she'd barely slept before the flight left, but in Rosewood it was the middle of the day. Ezra had meant to meet her at Philadelphia International Airport, but her landing didn't coincide with his schedule, so she instead agreed to meet him after she went in to pick up her diploma.

Sun poured through the windows as Aria walked through the halls of her former high school. It was warm, and she was dressed in a pair of loose-fitting khaki short shorts and a white tank-top emblazoned with the statement 'I make cute babies' on the front. Aria had only ever seen it for men, but Hanna had made both she and Vienna shirts with the statement-and apparently also gave Ezra one of the shirts-so she'd worn it proudly on her first day back in Rosewood. With Wren in jail and Alison safely returned home, she had nothing to hide anymore.

The faculty working in the office were mildly surprised to see her-and even more surprised to see that she had a baby-but they greeted her as they did any other student and didn't say a word about Vienna. Aria was grateful for that, given that Vienna had screamed the entire drive from her mom and Zack's place and had just gone to sleep when she walked in the building.

After picking up her diploma, she roamed the halls a bit, careful of making any noise so that she didn't disrupt summer school sessions. She was grateful for the moments in the halls though, as it gave her a sense of closure that she didn't get when she'd run from Rosewood all those months earlier.

The first time Aria saw Ezra's face, she had left the school and gone to get coffee from The Brew. She half-expected to run into Emily or Spencer, but the place was relatively empty. She ordered herself an iced mocha latte with three shots of espresso-she was exhausted-and then sat down and waited for her drink to be made.

While she waited, Vienna decided it was time to wake up from her power nap, so Aria had leaned down to pull her from the confines of her stroller. When she leaned back up on her stool with her daughter held tightly in her grasp, she spotted Ezra standing just in front of the doorway, staring back at her. They stared at each other wordlessly for several minutes, until the barista called Aria's name and alerted her that her order was done.

Ezra retrieved the coffee for her and then walked over to to her with the drink. He settled it on the counter in front of her and they stared at each other once again wordlessly, only smiling at one another.

Finally, when the silence felt too thick to stand any longer, he uttered a single word. Hi.

"Hi," Aria muttered back at him. She couldn't stop smiling back at him. She was finally home. And he was here in front of her.

Ezra glanced down at Vienna, and his smile only grew. He made no move to grab for her; he didn't even try to touch Aria. Even without words, Aria understood why. They had waited so long to see one another-and had only seen each other by a two-dimensional camera up until recently. Touching him almost felt impossible. She was sure if she did, that he would either disappear, or that she'd wake up and realize she was dreaming.

Under the grasp of her daughter tucked tightly against her chest, Aria pinched herself to be sure this was real. It was.

"Did you..." She glanced down at Vienna and gestured her towards Ezra.

Ezra glanced up at her, and then back down at their baby girl, then back up at Aria again and back down at Vienna. It was as though he wasn't sure who he wanted to see more. "I..."

The door clanged shut with the bells that hung from the top of the frame, shaking them both from their reverie. Aria glanced over Ezra's shoulder, but whoever the patron was, she didn't know them.

"Maybe we should go somewhere we can talk," she offered. He'd made no move to touch Vienna.

Ezra nodded. "I moved. Those condos a few streets over. We can walk if you'd like."

Aria nodded. She missed being able to walk through town.

She placed Vienna back in her stroller-Ezra said nothing, but he watched every move she made-and then she placed her latté in the cup holder at the top of the stroller before heading towards the door. Ezra stopped only long enough to order himself the coffee he'd come in to get before they headed out.

She expected the words to come naturally when they walked, but it was almost completely silent unless she asked a question while they walked, so finally Aria broke the ice with something she knew would get him talking.

"What's going on with Wren right now?" She asked.

Ezra cleared his throat, taking a sip of his own latté. "Uh, he's in jail. Awaiting trial. It's kind of ridiculous going into the police department right now. And Alison's house. At least, I mean, that's what Spencer's told me."

Aria nodded. "Yeah, we drove past the police department on our way into town."

Ezra glanced up at her. "Are you going to see your friends?"

"Spencer is making us all dinner tonight," Aria responded. "I mean if you don't- I don't know if you had any..." Her voice trailed off and she glared at the ground, flustered.

"It's fine," Ezra said. It was quiet again.

"So-...I mean, is he admitting to anything?" Aria asked.

Ezra exhaled a heavy breath. "He's looking to make a deal, but he's dug himself a pretty big hole."

Aria nodded. "And what about you?"

He shrugged, glancing up at her. "I was offered immunity for my testimony against him. Alison and Spencer said to go for it. I thought about it for a while, but I know without him in jail, people aren't safe, so..." Ezra sighed and shook his head.

"Is the DA actually offering him anything?" Aria asked.

"They're willing to work with him if he'll tell them what he knows about the death of the girl who was actually buried in Alison's place. I don't know how much he'll be able to help though, since he put Wilden up to it, and Wilden is dead."

"So the only person who knows anything about the girl who was buried in Alison's place is dead?" Aria asked.

"Pretty much," Ezra commented. "Anyway, I'm sure that they're going to find a way to settle up somehow. I guess the DeLaurentis' have already hired a very expensive attorney, and my mother and father are both refusing to help him out in any way."

"What about his trust fund?"

Ezra shook his head. "Gone on med school loans and reckless spending. He's got nothing. Wes tried to argue for about a second that we should help him, but when I told him about the day I found you at your home, he shut up."

Aria nodded understandingly.

They reached Ezra's place a few minutes later, and he led her up into the small place.

When they entered, they were greeted by a cooler temperature than the eighty degree weather outside. Aria sighed thankfully at the comfortable temperature and followed Ezra as he led her into the sitting room.

"I set up a place for V," he said somewhat nervously.

"Okay," Aria murmured softly. She leaned down and lifted their once-again sleeping daughter from the stroller and then Ezra led her through the small place down a short hallway. He stopped at the second door on his right and opened it before turning on the light.

The room was painted in a light baby blue with snowflake shapes painted in white around the top of walls.

As Aria stepped further into the room, she saw the concept Ezra had gone with, and she couldn't help grinning.

"Spencer and I watched that movie you told me about, and she must've told Melissa about it all, because two days later, they showed up here with paint and all of these drawings and insisted they were going to do this.

Aria nodded, feeling tears pierce her eyes as she stared at the designs on the wall. Next to the door was a mock-up of the ice castle, complete with the ice stairwell. But Aria's favourite part of the room was next to the crib. Over the head of it was the shape of the chandelier-or what Melissa could manage in drawings-and on the side of the crib next to the wall, Elsa was mid-movement with a look of wonderment as snowflakes danced above her fingers. Granted, Melissa had added her own flourish to it with more than just a few snowflakes spouting from her fingers. Instead, they floated up from Elsa's fingers and fell in a firework spout over her head.

"I can't believe you guys did this," Aria said as tears burned the corners of her eyes.

"I just mentioned wanting Vienna to have a place of her own," Ezra told her. "But all the credit for this belongs to Spencer and Melissa. They did all of the work in here."

"It's amazing," Aria said as she looked around the room once more.

After a bit, she settled Vienna in the crib and then Ezra walked over to the changing table next to the bed and turned on the baby monitor. Afterwards, he turned and stood next to Aria as she stared down at Vienna, watching her as she slept.

The look on Ezra's face was one that she'd seen on her mother's face a lot lately. It was one of completely wonderment and awestruck. And if she wasn't mistaken, a hint of sadness.

Aria reached out and pinched a bit of skin on Ezra's bicep, chuckling silently to herself when he jumped a bit and glared at her.

"What was that for?" His growl was soft, careful not to wake Vienna.

Aria shrugged. "I pinched myself when I first saw you to make sure it was real. Figured that might be why you hadn't touched either one of us yet."

Ezra's expression softened. "I'm sorry."

Aria shook her head. "Don't be. I just...I want you to know we're here and we're staying. This is real."

Ezra nodded. He glanced down at her hand resting on the top of the crib and then lifted his own and rested it tentatively on top of hers. Aria squeezed his fingertips lightly, smiling up at him.

Ezra tilted his head towards the door, and they headed out of the room a few moments later, back into the sitting room. Aria grabbed her latte out of the stroller and then sat down on the couch. She couldn't help the sigh of relief she let out as she relaxed against the comfortable furniture. Whether she wanted to admit it, she was exhausted.

"I'm gonna get a sandwich. Want anything?" Ezra asked as he walked into the kitchen.

Aria shook her head, leaning further into the couch. "I'm good."

.,.,.,.

When Aria was in Vienna, waiting for Ezra to tell her it was safe to come home seemed as thought it would never come. She only ever heard from him once a week-if that-and even then, it was short. CeCee would send her an e-mail at the beginning of the week to an account she'd set up for Aria, but she always e-mailed from a new one. The e-mail would come with a designated time that she be signed into a skype account that she would call from. The only reason they were able to do that was because Aria's computer had a program installed that bounced her IP all over the globe.

Even so, when CeCee called, the conversation was never more than two minutes. She would check in with Aria and ask how she and the baby were doing, and then she'd pass the phone off to Ezra. He'd ask the same, tell her he loved her, and then promise to get in touch again soon. Then her world would be radio silent for another seven to ten days.

The day that Wren went to jail, Aria had no clue that it was happening. She only found out when she got an unexpected call from Spencer's phone number. She knew she'd been taking a risk answering, but it was four AM her time, which didn't really make her think that it could be a random call. She knew she was taking a risk answering, but she did anyway, and was pleasantly surprised to hear all four of her best friends voices.

They told her that Wren had been arrested, and that she needed to get home promptly. Of course, at the time she told them it was four AM, to which Spencer apologized and said she should call back at a more reasonable hour and tell them when she would be home. After that came the arguments with Ella and her doctors about not being able to travel, which was only made better two days later when Ezra was finally released from jail-one doesn't hold a gun to their brother's head and not require questioning, she was told-and he finally was able to video chat with her. After five months of two minute conversations and not seeing his face, he was staring at her, and looking as gorgeous as he'd ever been. Granted, he'd been a bit banged up, but that was to be expected.

A car horn blared and Aria jumped, suddenly bolting upwards on the couch. She blinked wearily a few times as she looked around the room and realized she was laying on Ezra's couch. She looked around the room until her eyes fell on a clock-it was past five PM, eleven PM in Austria. She scrubbed a hand down her face and then glanced behind her out the window towards the road. Whoever had honked must've done it in passing, because she didn't see any cars.

She pushed herself up from the couch and looked around a bit before heading down the hallway, popping her head in doorways as she went.

The closest door was on her right, and it turned out to be an office. She was curious, but didn't do anything more than peak inside before heading to the next door, which led into the bathroom.

At the end of the hall, Ezra's bedroom door faced Vienna's door. She was curious to take a peak, but as she walked further down, she could hear soft coos coming from Vienna's room.

Aria slowly peered around the doorway, glancing up in the direction of the noise. As she did, she spotted Ezra in the rocking chair across from the crib she'd put Vienna in earlier. He was rocking lightly and regaling her with a story that sounded similar to the night she first cooked for him. Aria smiled and rested her head against the door, listening as Ezra told the story.

"And so your mom made this _awful, __**awful**_thing she called 'enhanced mac and cheese', and-oh, dont worry. She's expanded her palate since then-but we sat down to eat it, and...and it was raw," Ezra commented with a grin as he glanced up and spotted Aria in the doorway.

"It was **not** raw," Aria chuckled as she walked into the room. She glanced down at Vienna as she reached Ezra's side and smiled. "Hi, baby girl."

Vienna cooed at Aria.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep on you," Aria said softly as she glanced up at Ezra.

He shrugged, shaking his head. "I get it. Jet lag and all that. We've just been hanging out for a bit."

Aria smiled, watching him with Vienna quietly for a bit. "I'm glad you finally picked her up."

Ezra nodded slowly, rubbing his thumb against the back of Vienna's hand as she held tightly to his index finger. "I just..." He paused, glancing up at her. "I was scared. I know I sent you away to keep you safe, but it was a long time for me too."

Aria nodded, squatting down and brushing a hand over Vienna's cheek. She looked back at Ezra. "I know."

"When is your dinner?" He asked after a bit.

Aria sighed. "I should actually go pretty soon. But, I- erm...You can come along if you'd like? I don't want to take V away from you right now, and I'm sure they wouldn't mind you tagging along. You've spent more time with them lately than I have anyway..."

Ezra considered the option for a few moments. "Only if you don't feel like I'm crashing a party."

Aria shook her head at him. "If anything, you're helping a girl out."

Ezra laughed at her and rolled his eyes.

Aria took Vienna from him a few seconds later so he could stand, and then they headed out of the house back in the direction they'd come. It had cooled off a bit, so neither of them minded the walk, though they left the stroller at the house and opted to share the duty of carrying Vienna the four blocks back to The Brew.

Once they arrived, Ezra followed Aria to her car to get Vienna settled into her car seat, and then he headed to his own car and they agreed to meet up at Spencer's parents house.

The drive itself was relatively quiet, and Vienna seemed to be sated, so except for the occasional coo, she didn't make a sound.

Upon reaching Spencer's place, Aria didn't even make it out of her car before the girls were charging for her. She thought that was hilarious, given that Hanna and Emily were supposed to be packing up to leave for college soon. Emily was headed to Princeton on an academic scholarship she'd been lucky to land while Hanna got into a fashion internship in New York. Spencer had reapplied to UPenn, and had managed to get in, but decided instead to attend school closer to home in Philadelphia.

Her friends pulled her from her car, pulling her into a tight hug. There were so many arms pulling at different parts of Aria that she couldn't help but laugh until she was complaining she couldn't breathe.

"It's so good to see you!" Spencer said happily as she refused to let the smaller girl go.

Aria giggled, hugging Spencer back a bit more before she finally released her. As she did, Hanna was already pulling open the back door to retrieve Vienna.

"I can't believe you're finally home," Emily added as she peered over Hanna's shoulder to see Vienna as she removed the car seat from the car. "It feels like it's been forever since...well since you could come home."

"That's because it has been," Aria muttered a bit disdainfully. "Stupid doctors and flights."

The girls chuckled at her, but then glanced up as Ezra's car pulled in the driveway.

"I hope you don't mind," Aria commented. "We just got home, and I didn't want him to have to be away from V."

Hanna waved a dismissive hand at Aria as Emily and Spencer headed over to the car to greet Ezra. Aria was surprised when both girls hugged him.

"Don't even worry about it. We're so used to Ezra being around now, it's like he's another girl."

Aria gaped at Hanna. "Okay, wow, Han."

Hanna just laughed at her.

Spencer and Emily returned to them a few moments later and then Spencer suggested they head inside.

Aria stopped in her tracks when she stepped through the doorway and spotted Alison sitting at the counter. The only time she'd been lucky enough to see the blond girl in person was the day that they'd chased her into Spencer's back yard so many months ago, and even then, it was only for a moment.

Back then, Alison still had her blond hair. Now it was brunette. She also didn't have a cast on her leg-an unfortunate circumstance of the night Wren went to jail, but it was the worst of anyone's injuries. And, as Aria had been told, Alison had been milking the injury for all it was worth.

The former blond glanced over her shoulder from where she was reading on Spencer's iPad and she smiled at Aria. The very sight of Alison smiling at her made her stomach flip.

"Well are you just going to stand there and stare, or do I have to hobble over for a hug?"

And there was that feeling again. Her stomach felt like it was doing somersaults from the sound of Alison's voice. Because it wasn't from a video. Alison was five feet away from her, just waiting for Aria's arms to wrap around her.

"I think she's a bit in shock that this is all real," Spencer said as she pushed Aria gently forward, guiding her towards the table.

"S-sorry," Aria said, shaking her head at herself as she reached the table. She smiled a bit more. "It's just so..."

Alison just nodded, opening her arms to Aria when they were standing face-to-face. Aria hugged her, and then squeezed even tighter when Alison's arms wrapped around her.

"I know," Alison said softly as she rubbed a hand up and down Aria's back.

"We all do," Emily chimed in.

"Sometimes I still can't believe I'm back here with all of you," Alison said when she and Aria finally let go of one another. "It just feels so unreal. I thought I'd be running forever."

Aria nodded, smiling sadly at her friends. She couldn't help the tears that formed in her eyes. "Stupid hormones," she muttered.

The girls just chuckled at her comment. Hanna settled Vienna's carrier on the floor and then set about removing her. Aria was once again surprised when Ezra received a hug, this time from Alison.

"I'm very confused," she commented as Hanna stood up with Vienna in her arms. Aria reached out and took her daughter, cradling her gently. "You guys are all so close..."

Alison nodded, looking back at her. "If it weren't for Ezra, we'd all probably be dead."

"Bu-...I thought you didn't trust him when you first met him?" Aria asked.

Alison nodded. "I didn't. I thought he'd be just like Wren. I told CeCee she was crazy, and she'd just get us killed."

"So then what really happened that night?" Aria asked. She didn't have to specify which night she was referring to.

The four girls all seemed to exchange glances with one another and with Ezra. Aria huffed.

"We set him up," Spencer finally spoke. "Melissa and Wren came home saying they were engaged, and we had this whole thing planned. I made this comment about him being rich and then I walked out, and I left my phone here on purpose. We put up cameras, and when we knew he was by my phone, Hanna texted and said she got Alison to agree to meet her and talk. We knew Wren couldn't resist the bait, so we set him up to meet us where it all started."

"And where's that?" Aria asked.

"It's this house on Hanson Road off County Road R. Next to Radley," Alison said softly. "It's where I told him I thought I was pregnant. Once upon a time I knew someone who lived there, but the place has been vacant for a while."

"Wren called me when he got an address and told me to meet him there," Ezra joined in. "But I was already there with the girls. The plan was for him to see Hanna running from the house in Alison's red coat and chase after her because I knew he'd have a gun. She had a bullet-proof vest CeCee stole from Wilden ages ago, and we figured she'd be safe."

"But he got there early," Emily commented. "And somehow he knew Ezra was in on it."

"He came in with a shovel and hit Ezra in the side of the head with it and knocked him out," Alison recalled. "I told the girls to run, because I figured Ezra was dead and we were all screwed. I already had a plan for us to leave town and everything, but there was only one window in the room and we had to go out one at a time. So I told them to go first. I'd already been running so long..."

Spencer interjected. "I went out first and doubled back. I figured I could screw with him a little-maybe keep him from killing Ali, if nothing else. I knew Ezra had a gun, and I'd use if I had to, to save us."

"Anyway, I'd just gotten out, and I was waiting for Ali to jump out, and we were gonna take my car," Hanna added. "But..."

"Wren was already coming at me with the shovel," Alison said. "And I was pretty sure he had a gun too. I tried to go out head-first, figuring I could somersault and maybe just get out with a broken wrist. Hanna grabbed my hands, but he grabbed my leg and started yanking. Hanna fell, and I screamed at her to run..." Alison shook her head at herself. "I figured I might as well do one decent thing for her while I was still alive."

"Wren said screamed that if I ran, he'd shoot Alison," Hanna commented. "I panicked, and then Spencer was back in there again."

"He threw me into a chair-literally-and pointed his gun at me. He told Spencer he'd shoot me if she tried to run, and then he had another gun, and he was telling her to tie me up and then sit down and handcuff herself to the ropes she tied me up with," Alison explained.

"And?" Aria asked. She glanced back and forth between both girls and Ezra.

"We did what we were told to stay alive," Spencer said. "We told Emily and Han to run, and they went to get the police."

"What about your gun?" Aria asked as she looked up at Ezra.

"It was under the hip I was laying on," he responded. "I don't even know how long I was out, other than the fact that when I came to, Spencer had finished tying Alison up and was sitting on the floor next to her. After that, I waited until Wren only had one gun on them, and I made a run for him with the shovel he'd ditched."

Aria gaped at him. "You risked getting all of you killed!?"

"It was the best chance we all had," Ezra told her. "If he'd heard sirens, he would've killed all of us and he probably would've made it look like I was the one who did it. So I ran in and knocked him down. He dropped his gun, it went off, and Alison got grazed in a ricochet."

"Fortunately, Spencer tied us pretty loose, so once Ezra had Wren pinned down, he threw the keys to the handcuffs to her and then she put pressure on my leg until the cops got there." Alison finished.

"Wait so your leg...?" Aria's brow furrowed. She was confused.

"From the yanking, and then being thrown into the chair, my tibia was fractured," Alison explained. "But truly, if it weren't for Ezra, we all probably would've died. Wren never would've let Hanna and Emily live, knowing they knew they truth. He wouldn't even let me."

"Wow," Aria muttered as she looked around at her friends. She shook her head, almost unable to grasp what she was being told. If she hadn't been through such similar near-death experiences, she probably would've told them they were nuts.

Spencer nodded, heading over to the oven. "Yeah, we try to relegate family meetings to weekly dinners now. Keep everyone from getting hurt or killed and all that."

The girls laughed, and Aria felt a refreshed wave wash over her as they did. All of her friends were truly safe, and they were home to stay, if at least for just the moment. More than that, Alison was alive, and it was because Ezra had saved her, as well as Emily, Hanna, and Spencer. And Aria herself was alive because he'd sent her out of harm's way months earlier.

As Ezra's eyes fell upon hers, she smiled at him appreciatively. There were so many things she wanted to communicate to him, so many things she had to be grateful for because of him.

'Thank you,' she mouthed to him as Vienna cooed in her arms. Ezra just smiled back at her.

.,.,.,.

It was barely nine PM when they returned to Ezra's apartment-which Aria supposed was now technically _their_ apartment-but she was seriously exhausted when they stepped across the threshold. It was three AM in Austria, and her body actually ached with exhaustion.

"Why don't you go crawl into bed," Ezra whispered as he pushed the door shut behind himself. "I'll put her to bed."

There were so many different reasons Aria would've argued it was her job on any other night. Ezra had never put Vienna to bed before. She'd never even seen him take care of a baby before. Vienna barely knew him. But Vienna was barely two weeks old, and she didn't have the energy to insist she'd do it, so she just forced her feet to move in front of one another until she reached the bedroom.

She didn't turn on a light until she reached the lamp on the side she automatically decided was hers. Even then, she only flipped the switch and then she pushed the blankets back and then kicked off her shorts before crawling up onto the bed. She stuffed her feet under the blankets and tugged them up to her hips before curling up a bit. She grabbed her phone and texted her mother to say she'd be by in the morning to pick up clothes for herself and Vienna. She'd figure out more permanent living arrangements in the next few days.

Ezra entered the room a few minutes later and rounded the bed to the other side. He removed his clothes until he was left in his boxers.

"You alright with the temperature?" He asked. "I can turn the heat up or down?"

"It's good," Aria responded softly. "Did you cover V with at least one blanket though?"

"Yeah. She's in that swaddling one," he replied.

"Okay," she breathed more than spoke. She laid in that spot for a few moments with her back to Ezra as he moved onto the bed until she could muster enough strength to turn over and look at him. She smiled as her eyes met his.

"What?" He asked softly.

Aria shook her head, still smiling wearily at him. "Nothing. Just you."

"What about me?"

"You're amazing," she told him. "You barely knew my friends, and even then, that was just as students. You didn't know Alison at all. And you saved all of them."

Ezra shrugged, reaching up to brush a lock of hair out of Aria's face. "Only because it was us or Wren. I knew if I didn't go in there when I did,..." He shook his head. "I just did what I had to."

Aria nodded, chewing lightly on her bottom lip. "Still... You could've chose family."

Ezra glanced back up at her. "I **did** choose family. Don't ever doubt that. Wren stopped meaning anything worthy to me when he tried to throw you over the side of a train car. You don't do that to someone you love."

Aria nodded again. They were both quiet for a few moments, and once again a smile creeped onto Aria's face, weary as she was.

"What?" Ezra questioned softly. He'd started brushing his thumb repetitively over her cheek.

"Just you," she whispered. "I'm here, and you're here. And I'm home."

Ezra nodded. He leaned over and kissed her. It was chaste, but he was clearly just as tired as she was. He laid his head back down back in the same spot, looking into her eyes once more. "You're home."


End file.
